Traditional Publishing
- Trend watch with middle-grade dealmakers: Agents and editors discuss what’s succeeding right now, including the graphic novel genre. Read Shannon Maughan at Publishers Weekly.
- Even writers who don’t typically write series are thinking about sequels after winning awards. But they’re not called sequels. Instead, they are “follow-ups.” Read Keziah Weir at Vanity Fair.
- How TikTok is changing book cover designs: There is more bold color, whimsy, and flourish. Read George Chrysostomou at Reader’s Digest.
Marketing
- A closer look at Open Road Media’s backlist marketing machine. Their system can take action on 1,800 titles per day. Read Mike Shatzkin at The Idea Logical Company.
- 10 ways to promote your first academic book. Some suggestions will look familiar; put together they offer so many potential avenues for promotion, they’d keep any author busy for months. Read Joanne W. Golann at Inside Higher Ed.
- TikTok accounts that indie authors should follow to grow their career. These accounts share publishing tips and marketing and promotion advice. Read Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza at Written Word Media.
Creator Economy
- Wattpad has revamped its Creator program. Wattpad is offering up to $25,000 each for 500 creators this year; it is also offering mentorship, marketing support, and other opportunities to 3,000 invited creators. Wattpad president Jeanne Lam is interviewed about the program. Read Grace Stanley at Daily Dot.
- What are the best Substack alternatives? If you want to run a paid newsletter and avoid giving Substack a percentage of your proceeds, here are four alternatives. Read Justin Pot at Wired.
- Paid classes are coming to YouTube next year. YouTube will take a 30 percent cut of any registration fees. Some believe it’s a threat to MasterClass, but it’s competing more against the likes of Teachable. Read YouTube’s announcement.
Culture & Politics
- The banned books you haven’t heard about: Do sales really increase for all banned books? Only when there’s a media blitz. Read Connor Goodwin in The Atlantic.
- A profile of Joyce Carol Oates that touches on her Twitter activity. Even if you don’t care what Oates tweets, this is a worthwhile read. Read Erin Somers at Bustle.
- A conservative publisher puts out children’s books that are starkly political. Brave Books says its mission is to “help parents instill a love of truth in their children so that the children will withstand harmful progressive influences.” But do the books appeal to kids or just parents? Read Joanna Weiss at Politico.
- Publishing industry exec believes the DEI push could inadvertently harm BIPOC authors. At a recent panel, Little, Brown executive Tracy Sherrod said that white editors have been tasked with publishing more books from underrepresented authors, some of whom received advances that they couldn’t earn out. That could, in turn, hurt their chances of getting another book deal. Read Pavithra Mohan at Fast Company.
- How traditional writing workshops fail writers of color. The long-held workshop rule is that the writer whose work is being critiqued should remain silent. That is now being questioned and actively changed. Read S.L. Huang at Tor.
- Genres are cultural and historical, not scientific. “There isn’t any way to objectively measure if a story is genre x or genre y.” Read Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.
International
- Storytel expands into France. The digital subscription service, popular across Europe, has entered into partnerships with major French publishers, including Hachette. As part of the effort, Storytel is offering a new time-based subscription plan with different levels of listening hours. Read Porter Anderson in Publishing Perspectives.
- What can data tell us about the global publishing industry? As usual, the United States leads the way in publishing-industry revenue. Read Michiel Kolman at the International Publishers Association.
- Wattpad begins podcasting on Spotify. Wattpad’s new show focuses on the biggest names in webnovels in Indonesia and the Philippines, home to many of the most successful and influential authors on Wattpad. Learn more in the press release.
- France sets a minimum book delivery fee. To avoid unfair competition from Amazon, France will impose a €3 fee for online book orders of less than €35. Read Elizabeth Pineau and Geert De Clercq at Reuters.
- Publishing in Canada in 2022: As in the United States, Canada is seeing more independent bookstores open, and those stores now receive direct financial support from the government. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.